The James Harrisson Show James Harrisson

What you’ll learn from this interview:
How to think about approaching a fundraise to increase the velocity and probability of success How to craft your story and structure your raise Common pitfalls at the pre-seed/seed stage that founders need to avoid Today I’m interviewing Abhi Maran, he’s an investor at Rampersand, an early stage Australian venture capital fund.
He also writes regularly as part of his Superfluid substack which is a phenomenal resource for founders looking to navigate the often opaque world of venture capital.
I’ve enjoyed reading Abhi’s work and wanted to bring him on the show to unpack some of the frameworks and principles he’s distilled from his journey as an investor.
There was only so much depth we could go into on a 45 minute podcast so make sure you subscribe to Superfluid and connect with Abhi on LinkedIn.

What you’ll learn from this interview:
What it took to reach the “overnight success” moment that took Sourci from $1M in 2019 to $43M in 2020 The importance of knowing our strengths and doubling down on them after he struggled with dyslexia in school and early career How he thinks about building true company culture as the business has grown to dozens of employees in multiple countries Today I’m interviewing Giovanni Pino, founder & CEO of Sourci which helps Australian businesses connect with world class manufacturers and suppliers.
Gio started Sourci with his business partner Ellie in 2017 from his spare bedroom. Neither of them had a background in sourcing or manufacturing but within 3 years they grew Sourci to a multi 8 figure business with offices in Australia, China and India.
There were so many great lessons from this conversation around leveraging our strengths, the grit it takes to become an “overnight success”, how to build real company culture, balancing personal growth with business growth + more.
Connect with Gio on IG: @gio_pino_

What you’ll learn from this interview:
Lessons from building and successfully exiting 4 startups Frameworks for building companies and navigating the unexpected challenges of the acquisition process Lessons from his time at Microsoft, PWC, Amazon, and how those experiences have shaped him as a founder Today I’m interviewing David Lemphers. He's built and exited 4 companies including ZenDeals which was acquired by RetailMeNot for $18M & Code Pilot which acquired by AngelList.
David has such an interesting insight into the acquisition process having gone through it multiple times. He’s a phenomenal systems thinker with a lot of frameworks for navigating exits, building companies and life in general.

What you’ll learn from this interview:
What Mark learned about leadership from the army and how he applies that to business today Why his “retirement” after the Xplor acquisition only lasted 2 weeks before he jumped back in the founder seat How he's applying learnings from education with Xplor to healthcare with Kismet Today I’m interviewing Mark Woodland, Founder & CEO of Kismet which is on a mission to make healthcare more accessible, recently announcing their $4M pre-seed round led by AirTree.
He previously served in the Australian Army and was the founder of Xplor, a product he originally created to streamline admin work for his mother’s childcare centre, before growing it into Australia’s largest early education software provider which was eventually acquired by private equity firm Advent International.
There were so many great business and life lessons from his time in the army, growing Xplor and now Kismet.

What you’ll learn from this interview:
Frameworks Michael used to design his career Lessons from his time as a Product Manager at Google How he’s making the renting generation love renting Michael has 8+ years experience managing global products, including successfully launching a global redesign of Google Play (worlds largest double sided marketplace) and scaling up the 3rd largest commercial real estate marketplace in the US.
He’s now a Co-Founder of Leesy which is on a mission to make the renting generation love renting by building an ecosystem of products & financial services that help renters truly feel at home whilst retaining the freedom to move as their lifestyle changes.
By initially fixing the $10 billion global leasing problem, Leesy is perfectly positioned to streamline the rest of the $2.5 trillion p.a rental journey.
Connect with Michael via email

What you’ll learn from this interview:
Tips for founders fundraising in this current environment Frameworks for investing in early stage startups as an Angel Investor How to build strong professional and personal relationships Rohit Bhargava is the Co-Founder of One Future Football, the world’s first global digital football league, which just recently came out of stealth and announced their $3M pre seed round led by Blackbird and has involvement from a number of international athletes like Naomi Osaka, Nick Kyrgios, Steve Smith, Chris Smalling, Patrice Evra, Kamaru Usman and more.
He’s also an investor with Playbook Ventures, a syndicate and rolling fund that invests into early stage startups.
Rohit has a really unique insight sitting on both sides of the table as a current founder and  active investor.
Connect with Rohit on LinkedIn
Apply to join Playbook Ventures as an Angel Investor here